My Photo Journal: Buddleia 'Grand Cascade' and a Common Buckeye Butterfly

Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.
― Albert Einstein
It's been a while since I attempted to make any gardening notes - it always seems so overwhelming on top of tending to the garden itself. However, I have resolved to keep more conscientous observations about what I have planted in the garden and how these plantings do over the year and hopefully, in years to come.

Here to kick things off is a Buddleia 'Grand Cascade' that was introduced to the back garden in 2022:

Now, even though the tag says full sun, I have had some success with butterfly bushes in partial shade before. This shrub was planted in a full sun to part shade location, and I have to say I was quite happy with the first season progress that it made.

It started producing masses of flower buds beginning of August, and boy, did it attract a ton of butterflies when it started blooming profusely in late August. It continued to flower vigorously into early November when it started getting brown and done. I feel that my flowers came out looking more pink than lavender (see first picture at top of page) but that might have something to do with the quality of the light when I took the photo ― late summer afternoon, deep shade. Despite the profusion of blooms, I must admit the perfume was quite underwhelming ― the scent is a lot more subtle than any other butterfly bush I've ever planted.

I garden in a Zone 5B and it's been a fairly mild winter so far so I am keeping my fingers crossed that the Grande Cascade will shower me with more love next year. However, just to be safe, I did mulch about 4 inches thick and piled bags of unopened compost all around the bottom part of the shrub to provide a bit of a wind break as well as additional warmth to the surrounding soil.

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By the way, here are a couple of photos from the Walters Gardens site to show you how large this perennial shrub can grow. You can also find descriptions of the plant on their site. [Images below belong to Walters Gardens.]

My Photo Journal: Aster and Bee

Aster and Bee
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Do you miss the balmy days of summer? As I sit in a chilly room on a darkening day in the midst of a gloomy Canadian winter, I long for the hours I spent tramping about in the fields and meadows with my family when the sun shone hot and insects droned incessantly.

Among the daisies all astir
Observe the belted rover,
The merry little mariner
That sails the seas of clover.

Whene'er a shower falls, pellmell
Upon the seas of clover
He flies into some flower-bell,
And waits until it's over.
("The Bee" by R.K.M., published in 1888)
What do you miss the most from when the weather was sultry? As the snow clings to these January days, let's shake our boots and march through our memories of clover seas and mariner bees and dream of the days when we will arrive at the shores of summer once more.


Public domain poem is fom my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if sharing or publishing.

My Photo Journal: American Dagger Moth Caterpillar at Black Creek Pioneer Village

Remember what I said after we escaped unscathed from the encounter with a White-Marked Tussock Moth (Orgyia leucostigma) caterpillar at Rouge Park? Never again, I lectured my family, will we pick up unknown creepy-crawlies, and let them roam unchecked over bare skin where they could cause bumps, rashes, welts or worse. I went on along this line of reasoning for at least ten minutes, ad nauseam, and I saw two heads bob in agreement that of course, I was absolutely right.

Well, guess what?

The two "kids" - my husband, the gleefully bug-obsessed, and my daughter, the intrepidly curious - almost stepped on this fuzzy, bright yellow caterpillar with black, spiky "hair" as we were walking through the grass in front of Burwick House at Black Creek Pioneer Village. Since there was a pretty big horde of pre-schoolers and summer campers running around (we had seen two big school buses pull up with them when we arrived), the caterpillar naturally had to be "rescued" so it wouldn't get trampled if a stampede should ensue! Whether it was dumb luck, tough skin, mutant genes or a combination of all three, the audacious duo once more escaped unharmed from handling the furry critter.

According to a Google search, the hairs or setae of the American Dagger Moth (Acronicta americana) caterpillar can trigger mild to severe reactions in people. It seems to affect children more (I guess they are less tolerant of the toxin contained in the black "spikes") so I wouldn't advise letting your child touch it unless you're prepared to risk a possible trip to the doctor. Here is a somewhat old but really good link to a post and comments about the caterpillar's behavior and lifecycle, and here is a post from Kelly, a Cincinnati mom whose son did experience a reaction. You can also find a link to "stinging" caterpillars in Kelly's post.

I probably won't be able to stop my husband and daughter from touching or handling any more creatures they find in the wild - both are extremely inquisitive - so I guess the next best thing is to stay informed and educated about the different species we might come across. Come to think of it, investing in a few pairs of fine latex gloves might not be a bad idea either! :)

(This post was originally published in August 2012.) © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.